Frank Sharry: “It’s a fake national emergency to justify a fake solution which most likely will be supported by some fake constitutional conservatives”

America’s Voice strongly recommends a YES vote on H.J.Res.46, a resolution already passed by the House to block President Trump’s unconstitutional and unpopular national emergency declaration for border wall construction.

According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

Senators should vote ‘Yes’ on the resolution today.

This entire depressing spectacle captures the essence of the Trump presidency and Republican cowardice. It’s a fake national emergency to justify a fake solution which most likely will be supported by some fake constitutional conservatives.

What isn’t fake is the real damage to our Constitution, the real way Trump’s border land grab would seize private property, and the real diversion of military and drug interdiction funds in order to build his stupid wall. Today’s Senate vote is a real chance for Senators to show they are real protectors of the Constitutional separation of powers. Those Senate Republicans who don’t, will show, once again, that they are more interested in pleasing their Dear Leader than in stopping his unprecedented power grab.

Real national security experts recognize there is no national security justification for the fake emergency declaration. In a Politico opinion piece, “What Emergency?” former CIA/NSA head Michael Hayden and former director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matthew Olsen write:

What’s remarkable is that so few believe there is a real national security justification for declaring an emergency on the southern border. That’s because an informed and honest assessment of the facts demonstrates that there is no national security crisis … The underlying facts are not in dispute: There’s no national security justification to support this decision.

The whole approach the U.S. government takes at the border is geared to yesterday’s problem: Our border security system was designed to keep single, young Mexican men from crossing into the United States to work. Every day, more evidence mounts that it’s not set up to deal with the families and unaccompanied children now arriving from Central America — in search not just of jobs, but also of refuge. The mismatch is creating intolerable humanitarian conditions and undermining the effectiveness of border enforcement.

… [the] Trump administration has curtailed access to asylum and ended a program allowing some Central Americans to apply for protection from within the region to keep pressure off the border. Most recently, the administration rolled out a new policy that forces some asylum seekers to stay in Mexico in highly uncertain conditions to await asylum decisions, which they are told may take up to a year. Such measures seem only to be spurring on prospective migrants to journey to the U.S. before policies get even more restrictive.

Real constitutional conservatives know that there is no constitutional justification for voting against the resolution and overriding the explicit wishes of Congress. In an editorial by the conservative National Review, the editors write:

It’s not going to be easy for Senate Republicans to vote to disapprove of President Trump’s declaration of emergency at the border. They should do it, nonetheless, on principle and out of institutional self-respect….The problem with the emergency declaration is that, even if it’s technically legal (a matter of debate that will go up to the Supreme Court), it is clearly pretextual and a way to do an end run around the congressional spending power….It’s a tough vote, but a worthy one.